Creating A Product Specification
To create a Product Specification, follow the steps below:
Navigate to Sales > iQuote > Product Specification. The Product Specification browser page opens.
Click new. You can choose between creating the Product Specification using a Job or an Estimate as a base. The New From page opens.
Fill in the fields as described below.
|
Field |
Description |
|
Estimate/Job |
Select the Estimate or Job that the Product Specification will be based on. You can change the details later. |
|
Final Product |
Select the final product from the available options in the drop-down list. |
|
Description |
Enter a description for the Product Specification, a name to identify it. |
|
Family |
Select this checkbox if this record represents a Product Specification family. Note: For more information, see Product Specification Family. |
|
Inventory item automatically generated |
The system creates a new finished good inventory item using sequential numbering. |
|
Inventory Item |
Select an existing Inventory Item to relate to this Product Specification. If you select an Estimate or Job that already has an item related to it, the system auto-populates this field with that item. The system uses the Inventory Item to create the Sales Order or to describe that specific product.
Notes: |
|
Create new Inventory Item |
Select this option so that you can enter a code and description that the system will use to create a new inventory item and relate it to this Product Specification. |
|
Code |
Identification code for the Product Specification. |
|
Availability |
Choose to which customers this Product Specification will be available. The options are: Any Customer: you will be able to use this PS record to create an Estimate or Sales Order for any of your Customers. By Customer (Branch/Area): you will be able to use this PS record to create an Estimate or Sales Order only for the Customer that you select. By Customer (Head Office) and his Branch Offices/Areas: you will be able to use this PS record to create an Estimate or Sales Order for the Customer's head office or any of its branches. When you create an Estimate or Sales Order, the system only allows you to use the "Any Customer" Product Specification records or the ones that apply to that specific Customer. Note: You can setup the head office and its branches when creating the Customer record. For more information, see Customer. |
|
Customer |
Select to which Customer you want to restrict this Product Specification. Only the Customer selected, or its branches, will be able to use it. The system displays this field only when you select "By Customer (Branch/Area)" or "By Customer (Head Office) and his Branch Offices/Areas" in the Availability field. |
|
External Code |
Enter the external reference in this field. When using an XML file to create an Estimate, it uses this information to provide iQuote with the Product Specification that the system must use to understand the product structure and characteristics. |
Click Confirm when you complete all the required fields.
The system creates the new Product Specification record, bringing all the product's specification, Smart Notes, and Engineering from the Estimate or Job which it is based on.
Versions
By default, when you first create a Product Specification record (PS record), it has one version. A good practice is to create a new one every time that you need to change some detail from the Product Specification or Engineering. For that, click the New Version button.
By creating versions, you can keep a history of all the modifications that the Customer required for that product, since when you first created the record. It is some of the ways in which the Product Specification can act as a product library and it allows you to go back to a previous versions any time that you need.
There is not a limit for the quantity of versions, but only one of them can be active so that the system knows which one it has to use when creating a new Estimate or Sales Order. You can check which version is active by looking at the Version Status column and, to activate a version, you only need to select the version line in the Versions tab and click the Activate version button.
Note: When you activate an inactive version, the system automatically inactivates the version that was previously active.
Editing The Specification
It is possible to edit the specification details whenever and however you need to. For that:
Select a version and click the Edit Specification button. The Edit Specification window opens.
The Edit Specification window is very similar to the Product tab from the Estimate record. Thus, you just need to adjust the product specification (and the Smart Notes, if you want) as you would when creating an Estimate.
When you are done, click Confirm. The system updates the current version according to your changes.
You can also change, set up, or calculate the Engineering by clicking Engineering. The Engineering window opens.
Change the quantity and cost information as necessary and click Recalculate. The system generates the Engineering for the product.
Click Confirm.
Other Product Specification Options
Once you create a Product Specification record, there are a few new fields that you can edit. See more information about them below.
Print PS
Click this button to print the PS in a report format.
Link PS / Unlink PS
Use this button to link or unlink a PS record to a PS family. For more information, see Product Specification Family.
Status
The Product Specification can have two statuses, by default: approved and canceled. When it is canceled, you cannot use it in other parts of the system.
Product Line
This field inherits the Product Line from the Estimate or Job, but you can change it to another existing Line.
Use product price table
If you select this option, you can define a price for the product. With this, the system overrides the the price calculations and assigns a fixed price per product unit or per thousands and you can work with the margins in the Estimate after. In this case, the margin % will go up or down depending on the product cost and the fixed price.
To define the prices, click the Price Table button.
You can see those prices in the Estimate too, once you create it using the Product Specification. Access the Qty / Price tab and see the price in the Unit Price column.
